Sunday, July 15, 2012

Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments about our new chairs, we really are loving them!

This has been a crazy week with work stuff, spending 6 hours in the ER with our daughter (who is feeling better but still needs to figure out what's going on), and then Mr. Tide had to head to France with only a few hours notice. Never a dull moment around here I can tell you that!

Can I just say that I'm a teensy weensy bit jealous that Mr. Tide is in France...ok, I'm actually green with envy. I would have gone with him, but stupid me let my passport lapse, it expired in May...how could I let that happen?! So instead of visiting local brocantes, exploring tiny villages, and taking pictures of the south of France, I'm here watering plants, sweating, and wishing I had renewed my passport like I knew I should.

Because Mr. Tide goes to some very interesting places for his work he often remarks that it's not someplace I would enjoy or even a place that he would like to go back to, but when he lands in France that is never the case. I just got off the phone with him and it looks like he will be heading to Paris tomorrow...sigh! He did at least say "wish you were here,"...and all I can say to that is...me too!

Thursday, July 12, 2012

It's been a very looong time since I've shown you any changes we've made to our house so I thought today I would show you the new chairs we just bought for the sitting area off of our kitchen.

Truth be told we haven't really made very many changes to the house
lately because I've been so busy working and I haven't been
concentrating on things like making the house look nice. But last week
my in-laws were coming to town and having company is always a good excuse to spruce up your house! Because we had given our son and daughter the blue checked chair and wooden rocker that used to occupy this space it was time we found some new chairs.

I knew what I wanted, but I was having trouble finding just the right chairs to go in this spot. It's located right off of the kitchen and to the left is where our office is located which is open to the whole room.

The door to the back yard really prevents you from putting anything in the middle of the room, and I knew I didn't want a couch or loveseat because I wanted people to be able to take advantage of the water views, be able to chat with Mr. Tide and me while we are working, and be able to converse with someone while they are busy in the kitchen...so swivel chairs seemed like the perfect solution.

Have you ever looked for pretty swivel chairs?! Let's just say that the majority of them have those gawd awful bases that you can see below the chairs and they aren't what I would call attractive. After searching for awhile I settled on a look from Lee Industries who makes beautiful high quality furniture which is still made in the USA.

And after visiting one of my favorite local stores, Traditions of Loveville, which just happens to be a distributor for Lee Industries in my area, I hit pay dirt! I'm not known for being a big "plan ahead" sort of person, so it was serendipitous that Traditions had not one but two swivel rockers and in colors that matched my color scheme and the vision I had in my head just a few days before my in-laws arrived...score! One of them was even on sale, so I ended up getting a great deal on these two chairs...thanks Becky!

These babies are not only comfy but they are also slipcovered so you can slide those puppies off and throw them in the washing machine in case another set of pups, ie. Misty Belle and Mr. Quinn bring a bit of their muddy fun inside and onto the furniture. And if I decide to change the look of the room at some point I can always pick out new slips with different fabrics or colorways.

You may have noticed Miss Misty in one of the photos above, she is the perfect photographer's assistant...and what you can't see in any of the photos is that Mr. Quinn is right beside her. I think Misty was a stylist in another life, she's always right there helping me set up the shot. Quinn must have been a male model in his former life, as he is always ready for his best shot!

After my in-laws left last Sunday I decided to do a little rearranging and I finally brought in an old Coca Cola cooler I had found in the attic at the farm property we own. I cleaned it up and brought it inside to sit underneath the sofa table made from an old shutter that I've had for years. That whitish swath you see on the cooler is actually an old hunk of masking tape that I'm sure bore our family's name on it once upon a time. Growing up crabbing, boating, camping and picnicking meant having your name slapped on everything so that you could claim your stake if something fell overboard or wandered away. I thought about trying to remove it, but I think it just adds to the piece, so I decided to leave it on.

I also decided to take down the license plates and horse pull and put up one of my images which is printed on metal and has a high gloss finish. The seagull picture, which I took awhile ago at the beach in Chincoteague, has been sitting in a box for over a year and I just didn't know where I wanted to hang it until now.

Throw in a few summertime accessories like these old croquet balls from a set my parent's once owned, a pair of binoculars to help you see the herons, osprey, and eagles outside, and a few books about the Chesapeake Bay area and you are all set!

So here is the room before, last December complete with a blurry Mr. Quinn, the kitchen table which is now in the dining room, the old furniture, and previous wall decor...

BEFORE

And after...ready for some summer fun!

AFTER

Hmm, now what other rooms can I rearrange and buy new furniture for... ;-)

I hope everyone is staying cool and if you are getting too much rain, please send some our way, we've been hotter than the hinges and dry as a bone!

About Me

I am a mom to 2 wonderful children, wife to an amazing husband, loved by 2 fluffy puppies, a freelance writer, fine art photographer, and a lover of all things beautiful which I hope to share with you here on my blog.